The Burns High basketball teams each began the 2013 calendar year with non-conference home matchups with Asheville on Thursday night.

The Bulldog boys had a chance down to the wire in a 55-50 loss, while the Lady Bulldogs fell by a 51-27 margin.

Boys game

Burns didn’t back down when it fell behind. It fought back from a 26-18 second-quarter deficit to lead by as many as four in the third.

Then, after falling behind 47-37 with about six minutes to play, William Howze scored eight of the Bulldogs’ next 12 points as they came all the way back to tie it 49-all.

“We did a good job of fighting back there,” Burns coach Kevin Greene said.

Timothy Williams’ free throw with 2:24 to play put Asheville in front, and his putback shortly thereafter pushed the Cougars’ edge to 52-49.

Burns’ Quintel Houser made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:32 remaining to cut it to two. After a defensive stop, the Bulldogs called a timeout with 36.7 seconds left.

But a pair of Burns turnovers in the final 30 seconds and three made free throws by Asheville iced the contest.

Williams and Danquries Green led the Cougars (7-6) with 14 points apiece.

Houser paced the Bulldogs (1-9) with 21 points, followed by Chris Montgomery with 15 and Howze with 10.

Burns hosts Chase Friday in South Mountain Athletic 2A/3A Conference action. Greene said his team was more disciplined Thursday but still must do a better job of limiting mistakes to have success in SMAC play.

Girls game

Asheville led just 14-10 after a quarter, but it used a 16-3 scoring advantage in the second period to break things open.